Hospital 'sorry' after 'foul' swab left inside young mum for eight days after birth

Bosses at a Scots hospital have apologised after a swab was left inside of a mum who believed she was going to die following the birth of her daughter.Aisha McCracken accused the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow of negligence.

It came after she complained of severe discomfort, feeling unwell and experiencing a foul smell several times to staff before making the shock discovery herself.The 29-year-old was terrified the medical debris left for eight days inside her body could have resulted in sepsis or toxic shock syndrome - potentially leaving her newborn without a mum.Aisha, a nursery teacher from Darnley, gave birth to little Sophie at the QEUH in June 2024, a month before her due date.Both mother and daughter remained in hospital following the birth, but due to a persistent pain and foul stench the mum repeatedly told medics something wasn't right.She told Glasgow Live: “About two days after giving birth, I said to the midwife I was finding it really sore to sit down and to get up and walk about, and that there was a smell starting to come.“I was assured that I’d just given birth, and that I’d just had a cut so I was obviously going to be in pain.

It wasn’t very helpful at all.”Aisha was later examined by a midwife and after five days returned home while Sophie remained in hospital, but the new mum was still in severe discomfort and showering as many as four times a day due to a “foul smell” the unaccounted-for swab was causing.She was visually examined again by a community midwife on her return home but the swab was missed.

She continued to feel unwell and was prescribed antibiotics.More than a week after giving birth, Aisha returned from visiting her baby daughter at the QEUH and showered before